Key Points
- Breakdancing will make its sporting debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Philippine-born Jeff "J-Attack" Dunne and Rachael "Raygun" Gunn will represent Australia. 16 men and 16 women breakers from around the world to compete in Paris.
- The breaking competition will be divided into two events — one for women and one for men — and will take place August 9 and 10 at La Concorde Urban Park in Paris.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Breakdancer Jeff Dunne represents Australia in the Olympics
19:17
Road to Olympics
Four years before breakdancing will debut as a sport in the Paris Olympics this year, the now 16-year-old Jeff Dunne was determined that he would be on the world stage to represent Australia.
"I know then that I still have ages to think about and even get better at breakdancing. I have to go against all the adults who have 20-odd years of experience against me. So it was really a tough challenge, but I took it on and I made it.”
In 2020, when it was announced that breakdancing would be included as a sport in the 2024 Paris Olympics, this is where Jeff's dream of becoming an Olympian began.
From then on, with his Olympic goal in mind, Jeff has been training so hard, five to six hours a day including going to the gym, to better himself until the Olympic qualifying events last year.
"From the process, there was a competition in Sydney called the QMS 2023 WDSF Oceania Breaking Championships to choose the Australian qualifiers," Jeff shares.
"I got ranked as the second highest in my preliminary round which got me to the top 16 and I had to do six rounds. And I just blasted through those rounds until the final round where I beat the youngest in the team. I was the second youngest among the breakers."
Jeff Dunne also known as "J-Attack" will be representing Australia in the Male Breakdancing Competition, while PhD and university lecturer Rachael Gunn will be the female representative of Australia to the Paris Summer Olympics.
Australian breakers Jeff Dunne aka “J-Attack” and Rachael Gunn aka “Raygun” pose for photographs ahead the AUSBreaking Battle Series in Redfern, Sydney, Saturday, February 24, 2024. Credit: DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAPIMAGE
Breaking joins other newer sports in this year's Games, including surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing, that were added to the Olympic program for the first time at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
According to the Olympics website, the "breaking competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games comprises two events—one for men and one for women where 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will face off in spectacular solo battles".
Athletes will use a combination of power moves—including windmills, the 6-step, and freezes—as they adapt their style and improvise to the beat of the DJ’s tracks.
Dancers will be judged on their creativity, technique, personality, variety, performativity and musicality.
Jeff "J-Attack" Dunne started learning to breakdance at the age of seven. At 12, he dreamt of going to the Olympics. Credit: Jeff Dunne (Instagram)
'Breaking is fun and exciting'
Jeff Dunne started learning to breakdance at the early age of seven while he was watching her sister do her dance lessons.
"I first got introduced to breakdancing from my sister, Hanna's lessons, she used to do hip-hop classes and next to her class, they had a breaking class," recalls the teenager from Casuarina on the Tweed Coast in New South Wales.
"Every week, I would be at the corner of the breaking class and I would just watch and observe. It just got to a point where I thought I could do the moves, and all the tricks and freezes, and so I did. From then on I didn't stop breaking."
The Northern NSW high school student has tried other sports, like running and swimming, but breakdancing or breaking has brought so much joy to the young lad.
"Just the fun of it. Originally I just did it because it was so much fun, it's so cool, and brings the energy out of me and by the time I had dinner I'd be really tired."
"It's the most fun thing I ever did out of all the other sports I ever tried."
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 22: Australian Olympic breaking athlete Jeff 'B-Boy J Attack' Dunne poses during a portrait session at on April 22, 2024 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) Credit: Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Bringing honour
As a child, Jeff's family would have not guessed that one day he would be in the Olympics.
His mum, Rhondda Dunne, shares "I often joked and laughed that if I knew that he's gonna be good at something, I should have put him in a sport that was going to pay well."
Born in the Philippines and adopted by the Australian family - the Dunne, as a baby, Jeff is grateful for the life he has had in Australia ever since.
Now representing Australia in a world stage of sport, Jeff "feels super honoured and feel super glad that I have Australia behind me in this competition because breaking is it's not really known in the world, especially thanks to the Olympics it's starting to become more known, but without it, it's been really hard."
"I'm really glad that Australia has seen that I could be a potential Olympian, that gets a gold medal in such a new sport, I am really thankful."
Jeff Dunne (right) with his mum, Rhondda, during a Zoom interview with SBS Filipino. Credit: SBS Filipino
Despite the popularity that the teenager now enjoys, Jeff has not forgotten the country where he was born and he has a message to all the Filipinos supporting him.
"I love you all. And I'm glad that I was born in the Philippines. And yeah, I really cherish that and I thank you all."
Before the pandemic, Jeff Dunne along with his mum, Rhondda had been visiting the Philippines, including the orphanage in Davao City where they adopted Jeff, every 18 months since adopting Jeff.
"We always like adobo and [other Filipino food], sometimes we have lechon. We sometimes go to these Filipino restaurants to get them. I also love ube."
